LEARNING AND YEARNING

THE NEW NOVEL FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE LINE OF BEAUTY IS AN EXPLORATION OF SEXUALITY, SOCIAL CLASS AND SCANDAL

WORDS: ULI LENART

BOOK OF THE MONTH

THE SPARSHOLT AFFAIR

Alan Hollinghurst/Picador

The Sparsholt Affair is a multi-generational tale told in five sections, beginning in 1940 with the arrival at Oxford University of the handsome, athletic student David Sparsholt. Spotted working out in his room by a group of competing young intellectuals, David has an allure that’s impossible for any of them to resist, particularly lonely and romantic Evert Dax, the son of a celebrated novelist. As the Blitz rages in London, and students stand watch listening for the approach of enemy bombers, the blackout provides cover for yearning passions and secret liaisons. Over the course of one momentous term, David and Evert forge an unlikely relationship that will shape their lives — and that of their descendents — for decades to come. Moving forward in time to vivid episodes set in Sixties Cornwall and Seventies London, the story is an epic exploration of social change and the evolution of the gay experience in modern Britain. A masterful observer of the subtleties of human behaviour, Hollinghurst focuses on the hopes of the human heart and reflects them back at the reader in sentences of heart-shattering beauty. He can capture a character in a single line and unearth their secrets in a sentence. Exceptional. Out now

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